1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fasteners, and particularly to a clip fastener and a process for manufacturing the clip fastener.
2. Technical Background
Fastening clips and/or staples are typically made of a circular or flat wire bent to form a U-shape. In one approach that has been considered, the ends of the legs include a chisel-made chamfered cut. The chamfered cut enables the legs to penetrate the material into which the clips are driven with a straight run. In another approach that has been considered, clips have been made with an out-of-center saw-made chamfer cut at the ends of the legs. As a result, the legs of the clips will extend laterally from the original leg axis, thus increasing the pull-out resistance in many materials.
The clips are manufactured with a saw-made chamfered cut by obliquely shearing off single wires at the ends across an edge, after which a multiplicity of single wires are bent over a shaped body and are collected and, subsequently, are adhered to each other to form a bar made of a multiplicity of clips.
During operation, the clip bars are inserted into a material by means of nail drivers. In many cases, nail drivers are pneumatically operated compressed-air nail drivers. Alternatively, the drivers can be hydraulically operated, gas-fired, electrically operated nail drivers, or hand-operated nail drivers that are spring-loaded.
There are drawbacks to the above described approach. First, the speed of the above described method of producing the clip bars is relatively slow, given that each single wires must be worked individually. As discussed above, fastening clips that have laterally extending legs or shafts when being driven into a material are beneficial. Thus, it would be desirable to increase the productivity and provide a process for the manufacture of the aforementioned fastening clips at an increased production rate.